K-12 Research Guide: Rosie the Riveter
Introduction
Women represented approximately one-third of the workers at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run plant during World War II. Women did everything from clerical work in the offices to riveting and welding on the assembly line. Labor shortages made women essential to war industries, and the government actively recruited them to join the workforce.
Background
When the United States entered World War II, there were immediate voids in the workforce left by those leaving to fight abroad. Women across the country heard a call to action and stepped in, taking on new roles previously held only by men.
Popularized by the song Rosie the Riveter, Rosie became the fictional face of these early wartime women workers. Rosie was feminine, yet strong and powerful, changing the societal stigmas against working women and drawing interest in wartime work.
THF Online Resources
Recruiting Rosie: Ford Motor Company & Wartime Womanpower
A "Rivet"-ing Snapshot of American Women's History
Women in Industry and at Home in WWI
Flikr Album: Around the Clock Activities
External Online Resources
Ford Motor Company – History – Rosie the Riveter
Expert Sets
The experts at The Henry Ford have carefully curated artifact sets from focus areas of our collection.
Example Primary Sources Available on Digital Collections
Sheet music for the popularized song, Rosie the Riveter.
"The Saturday Evening Post," May 29, 1943
This cover of this issue features Norman Rockwell’s interpretation of “Rosie the Riveter”
Woman Riveting Parts at Willow Run Bomber Plant, March 1943
Photograph of a woman riveting parts at Willow Run Bomber Plant
Women Working at the Ford Motor Company Willow Run Bomber Plant, March 1945
Photograph of women working at Willow Run Bomber Plant
Women Workers at the Ford Rouge Plant, March 29, 1943
Photograph of women working at Willow Run Bomber Plant
Women were working in factories across the country during WWII, including Ford Motor Company’s Twin Cities Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Following a visit to Ford factories, Walt Disney wrote to John W. Thompson, Director of the Ford News Bureau, regarding an idea for a “Womanpower” movie. In his letter, Disney proposed a potential film aimed at attracting women to war work in the factories.
Reproduction World War II Poster, "We Can Do It!," 1998
During the Second World War, all of the national governments of the warring nations used poster campaigns to encourage civilian and military support of the war effort. The advertising technique of these posters followed the innovative style developed during the First World War. By appealing to the viewer's emotions this poster helped the U.S. to rally the home front workers and consumers.
Books and Secondary Sources
Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War, and Social Change, Sherna Berger Gluck
Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender, and Propaganda during World War II, Maureen Honey
Online Databases